TSMC August sales climb 32%

LONDON – August sales at foundry chip-making giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. were up 32.0 percent compared with August 2011, prompting the company to say Q3 sales will likely be ahead of previous guidance.

However, the annual increase was down from the 37.3 percent uplift seen in July suggesting that percentage increases will decline going forward. TSMC's third quarter revenue is now set to come in ahead of guidance but company chairman and CEO Morris Chang has previously warned that he expects a sharp slowdown in the fourth quarter that will last into the first quarter of 2013.

TSMC (Hsinchu, Taiwan) said August sales totaled NT$48.90 billion (about $1.65 billion) on an unconsolidated basis, up 2.0 percent compared with July. Sales for the year to August were NT$327.6 billion (about $11.04 billion), an increase of 16.0 percent compared to the same period in 2011, TSMC said.

On a consolidated basis – including revenues from TSMC's U.S. subsidiary WaferTech – August sales totaled NT$49.50 billion (about $1.67 billion), up 2.0 percent from July and up 31.5 percent compared with August 2011, TSMC said. Consolidated revenues through August totaled NT$331.6 billion (about $11.18 billion), an increase of 14.8 percent compared with the same period of 2011, TSMC said.

"TSMC's third quarter 2012 revenues are now expected to be slightly higher than the guidance announced on July 19, primarily due to pull-in of certain customers’ shipments and better-than-expected mask revenue." said Lora Ho, TSMC's chief financial officer, in a statement.

On Friday (Sept. 7) rival foundry United Microelectronics Corp. also announced August sales up strongly in a year-to-year comparison.